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Re. No NDAs: What Should Idea People Do?

blog.jpl-consulting.com

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Re: Re. No NDAs: What Should Idea People Do?

#31

Post by javajosh »

vessenes wrote: post #27
sophacles wrote: post #24

I'm a pretty big believer in the idea the ideas are emergent phenomena. On creative days, I can average an idea a minute. Most of these are things I've heard already and forgotten (except some small part in the back of my head) or combinations of 2 or 3 comments/blogs or papers or whatever I've read here or elsewhere. Also most of them are crap. An even higher portion of the "original" ones are crap. But the ones tha…

>>> Finally, since there are more ideas than doers, even if your idea is taken, there is another one coming down the pipe tomorrow :) This has to be one of the hardest things to remember for entrepreneurs, especially new ones. I frequently have to remember not to fall too hard for some cool idea, and I've been at this for a while now..

The grandpost is brilliant. But that comment assumes that ideas and execution are independent variables, which is not the case.

Re: Re. No NDAs: What Should Idea People Do?

#32

Post by dhimes »

wpietri wrote: post #29
damoncali wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's just the combination of your personal experience and an idea, no. As an investor, or developer, or competitor, it's still just an idea. You cannot transfer your deep domain knowledge to me over coffee.

Yes, definitely. If you're talking to an investor, they're not going to be able to fully appreciate a deep domain insight anyhow. You tell them about what they can appreciate: the size of the market, the cost of bringing your product to market, and the problem you are solving for your future customers.

The article implied it was a conversation with a business, rather than an investor.

Re: Re. No NDAs: What Should Idea People Do?

#33

Post by BenoitEssiambre »

jpwagner wrote: post #10

Main takeaway should be this sentence: "[In addition to the idea, bring to the table] something about how you are the best person in the world to lead its execution" Also love the reference to the Aiken quote in the comments: “Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.”

Completely agree.

And I might add, even if you don't have any rare talent or skills and you feel you have "just an idea", you might get my attention if you convince me that you are truly motivated, that you will call people every month, clients and/or potential partners in order to validate the product and find real world data points that enable us to determine the direction the project should take or when we should pivot.

I might be interested if I can trust you are willing to do the important business and marketing work, the things that distract me from building and improving the product, and convince me you will do it with as much passion and dedication which I will put in designing, architecturing, engineering and coding.

If you bring this to the table and you look like you have good common sense and at least some curiosity about the technical side and technical constraints we will be working within (maybe, for example, you are even willing to learn to edit a few html files and check them in the repository, not to become the html guy, just so you get a basic understanding of this aspect of _your_ business) , I might just be willing to give you 50% of the business, even more in some cases!

Re: Re. No NDAs: What Should Idea People Do?

#34

Post by wpietri »

dhimes wrote: post #32
wpietri wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, definitely. If you're talking to an investor, they're not going to be able to fully appreciate a deep domain insight anyhow. You tell them about what they can appreciate: the size of the market, the cost of bringing your product to market, and the problem you are solving for your future customers.

The article implied it was a conversation with a business, rather than an investor.

In which case, you have a different limited conversation for the initial meetings. There's even less need to tell a prospective developer about the secret sauce.

Re: Re. No NDAs: What Should Idea People Do?

#35

Post by sophacles »

javajosh wrote: post #31
vessenes wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>> Finally, since there are more ideas than doers, even if your idea is taken, there is another one coming down the pipe tomorrow :) This has to be one of the hardest things to remember for entrepreneurs, especially new ones. I frequently have to remember not to fall too hard for some cool idea, and I've been at this for a while now..

The grandpost is brilliant. But that comment assumes that ideas and execution are independent variables, which is not the case.

Thanks! Can you expand on this notion that ideas and execution are not independent? What I think you're suggesting is that the act of executing (or attempting to execute) will add data to the process of what is good or bad about a particular idea, and perhaps provide hooks for new thoughts/improvements to that idea. Is this accurate?

Re: Re. No NDAs: What Should Idea People Do?

#36

Post by ryguytilidie »

Does anyone else hate the term "idea people". To me that implies someone thinks that having an idea and no skill to execute is a legitimate profession where people should make money. I might be overreacting, but it feels like people see the VC cash flowing, have no discernible skills and think they deserve a payoff for a mediocre idea.

Re: Re. No NDAs: What Should Idea People Do?

#37

Post by drcube »

Even if the idea were worth money, how would you know unless you had experience in the field?

Might as well tell a lawyer your great idea for his client's defense. See how much he'll pay.

As an electrical engineer, I would not presume to understand architecture enough to sell an architect on my lucrative new idea for a building. The architect has probably thought of and dismissed hundreds of ideas like mine.

In the same way, I would never walk up to a web developer and say "Hey, I have this wild original idea about a website! If you build it, we could make tons of money, and I'll even give you half! But you have to sign this NDA before I tell you..."

If you don't know how to implement the idea yourself, chances are it has been though of and rejected already by those who do.

Re: Re. No NDAs: What Should Idea People Do?

#38

Post by its_so_on »

roc wrote: post #8
bdfh42 wrote: post #2

Spot on reply to the question. If the person with a great idea has something (very) substantial to offer a project based upon it then they are clearly a key component of the idea execution and should not fear discussing the idea with potential partners. If the idea is all someone has then - frankly - no-one will want to listen to the idea in any case.

Absolutely agreed. If you concede that it's all in the execution and can't make an argument for why you're the right person to see it executed -- then you've already admitted that you have nothing to offer. Further, the idea of not trying because you're afraid the entrenched interest would crush you if they tried isn't compelling. As said before: it's all in the execution. And what they're executing is as-important a…

this does not work so well if you're probably about number 500,000 on the list of people worldwide who could best execute it - but if you do it first, you still have a solid chance of publicity and a reasonable shot at making 10x-100x the investment, and maybe more, combined with an almost inability not to at least get bought out by someone more competent for a mild profit (loss if you consider your personal opportunity cost, which an investor doesn't care about). This is a common scenario in my humble opinion.

I'm not saying this should change. When it does, and investors are happy to invest in people who admit they're about #500,000 on the worldwide list of people who can execute on this idea - well, that is so far into a bubble you're almost out of it again.

Re: Re. No NDAs: What Should Idea People Do?

#39

Post by natrius »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #36

Does anyone else hate the term "idea people". To me that implies someone thinks that having an idea and no skill to execute is a legitimate profession where people should make money. I might be overreacting, but it feels like people see the VC cash flowing, have no discernible skills and think they deserve a payoff for a mediocre idea.

I consider it a pejorative.
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